Could Be Better
by She's So High
Summary: It was a relatively quiet night at number 12 Grimmauld Place.


Could Be Better

By: Lady DeathAngel

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, I am making _no_ money off of this, and yes, it pains me to say so.

Warnings: er, there's a little scene where two girls kiss, but everyone misses it and it isn't so bad. Other than that, some sexual references.

A/N: Firstly, thanks to Silverlore aka Tiina, for doing a quick beta read. As she didn't have time for anything other than a quick read-over, I went through as well and I'm not a very good self-beta so please be gentle when you see any mistakes. This was originally an answer to a challenge on Fictionalley but it took me about two and a half months to finish. .; The details of the challenge are listed below, and I hope you like it! So please read, enjoy and review!

_- Set Post OotP  
- Fred, George, Ginny, Ron and Percy must be part of the group of students  
- Remus must over hear the game between them and join in.  
- Someone must confess their feelings for one of the players  
- Someone must end up snogging Percy  
- Harry actual has some fun and smiles_

It was a relatively quiet night at Number 12 Grimmauld place. The Order's last meeting had been two nights ago, and since then only random members had been popping in and out of Headquarters every so often. Several of them had asked after the sixteen-year-old boy who had recently been acquired and would be with them for the rest of the summer. They always got the same replies. Harry Potter was as good as, if not better than, could be expected. Which wasn't saying much but was an adequate enough answer for those who didn't honestly care how he was.

For his part, Harry had spent the past week trying to forget things. It had been hard enough back at Privet Drive. With none of his friends around to keep him company, his mind often drifted into unwanted territory. Thoughts of his parents and Cedric and Sirius had plagued him. Thoughts of how he was to blame for all of their deaths had tormented him. Thoughts of how he would be the cause of many more, all because it was his 'fate', had made him angry. Angry at himself, angry at Voldemort, angry at anyone and everyone who could possibly be to blame for who he was. Being back at Grimmauld place was worse. With no Sirius walking around a corner with a frown and an angry tirade about something Kreacher had done, no Sirius gently teasing Tonks or Remus, no Sirius recounting the Marauder's Hogwarts adventures with Remus offering the occasional input, and no Sirius for him to recount his own adventures to, it was an empty house. And it just kept reminding him of what he'd lost.

So he tried hard to distract himself. He played Exploding Snap and Chess with Ron and Ginny and helped Hermione study. When Fred and George were around, he'd help them out with any new Wheezes they were developing. Tonks was always willing to share humorous stories when she was available, and every so often he'd find himself in Lupin's company, either reading or talking about almost anything that came to their minds. That wasn't exactly the escapism he sought any other time of day, but it was enough to be in the presence of someone who was suffering as much, if not more than, he was. It was almost enough to start a healing process. Not quite enough, but almost.

On that particular night, dinner was looking to be a rather boisterous affair, what with several members of the Order milling about and Mrs. Weasley insisting that they stay. And then Fred and George popped in, followed by Percy, who was slowly and steadily making his way back into the bosom of the family. Which was an interesting story really, and one that Ron had told with a frown, though it'd been obvious that he was happy things were looking up.

As it was, Mrs. Weasley was in very high spirits. Harry thought it was probably because, the fewer people at dinner, the more awkward the meal could be. But with as many people around as there would probably be tonight, there would be little room for awkwardness. Personally, he didn't much care how awkward Mrs. Weasley felt. He was having a hard time of forgiving her. After all, much of the previous year had been spent in condemnation of his godfather, and she still didn't seem remorseful about his death. Oh she had the _facade_ of one who was in a proper state of mourning (mostly for his, Lupin's and Tonks' sake, he was sure), but he'd overheard a conversation that had confirmed the belief that she hadn't really been too aggrieved by it.

He was polite though, and while the Weasley brood had noticed the change in his attitude toward her, they respected him enough to leave well enough alone. As long as he wasn't saying anything bad about her, they had no reason to hex him. Or, that's what Ron had told him at least. And, having seen firsthand what an angry Weasley could manage with a proper wand, he had no intention of invoking their wrath.

Ron had already beat Harry at chess for the fifth time when Ginny finally threw down her magazine with a loud sigh. It wasn't until all eyes were on her and Percy asked, "What is it, Gin?" that she started talking.

"This is terribly boring." she started. "All we're doing is sitting around! We're not doing anything productive and certainly nothing fun."

Hermione looked affronted.

"I am doing something productive _and_ fun, thank you very much."

"Oh, really, Hermione. Researching the extensive uses for hinkypunk saliva is all well and good," Fred told her.

"But that much reading can _not_ be healthy for a person." George finished.

"Then what," she asked, a bit more tight-lipped than necessary. "Do you suggest instead?"

They both shrugged and looked at Ginny.

"Well?"

She smiled.

"Truth or Dare."

"Oh no! No way! I'd rather knit something." Hermione said, shaking her head vehemently.

Ron, who was obviously taken with the idea, rolled his eyes.

"Come _on_ Hermione! Can't you forget about spew for a few hours?"

"It's not _spew_, it's S. P. . . ."

"I think it sounds like a smashing idea!" Tonks said, waltzing into the room. "I'm in."

"So are we." Fred said, and Percy nodded to indicate he would play as well.

"Harry, you're not going to participate in this madness are you?"

"Um . . ." He wasn't sure what to say. Hermione was glaring daggers at him, but this sounded like a good way to have some fun. Not that he had fun anymore, but at least it'd take his mind further off of things. So he shrugged. "Well, actually, yeah."

She frowned at him and then sighed gustily and threw herself back against the chair she was sitting in.

"Fine! Fine. I'll play."

"Wonderful!" Ginny exclaimed, clapping her hands together happily. "Now, everyone know the rules?"

There was a chorus of mumbles in the affirmative, with Hermione grumbling a bit under her breath.

"Great. Now, anyone got a Selective Sneakoscope handy?"

"Oh sure, Gin. I just happen to carry one in my back pocket during summer hols simply because I love the feel of it against my buttocks when someone lies to my face." Ron replied.

"Or cheats in a game of cards." Percy added, which made everyone look at him before chuckling.

"Oh look, Percy made a funny." Fred said, albeit with a bit more affection than he would have said normally.

"Fine, I'll get mine." Ginny said, standing and rushing out of the living room.

When she returned she put a sneakoscope on the middle of the floor.

"It's Selective," she explained to Harry. "Which means it'll only sound when someone's lying. That way we'll know who's telling the truth and who's not. So, let's start then."

"Wait a second, please." George said, before Ginny could launch everyone head first into the game. "I think we need to set at least one more rule here."

Fred nodded. "Too right."

"And what's that?" Ginny asked, a bit huffily.

"We should keep this all rated LP-15."

Blank stares all around greeted him, before Hermione figured out what he meant.

"I think you mean, PG-13." she corrected with a small smile.

"Yeah, that!"

"What the bloody hell are you two talking about?" Ron asked.

"The short of it is, ickle Ronnikins," Fred started. "That as much as we're sure she'd love it, we'd rather not have to see our little sis flashing her naughty bits at anyone, let alone anyone in this room."

"That's tantamount to incest, little bro." George said.

"Well, that's a boring game then!" Ginny exclaimed. "Only three of the people in this room aren't related to each other."

Harry, Hermione and Tonks shared a look while George clapped his hands together. "Well, there's still fun to be had in that."

"What do you . . . never mind. I really don't want to know, do I?" Harry said with raised eyebrows, but a slight smirk anyway.

"Oh honestly, you are all so perverted." Tonks declared, crossing her arms over her chest. When Hermione looked at her in question she rolled her eyes. "Isn't it _obvious_? They want to see us snog each other."

Hermione flushed red.

"Oh."

"Aw, Tonks, you're such a spoil-sport." Fred whined.

"Yeah, 'Mione'd be up for it. Wouldn't you?"

"U-um . . ."

"What kind of corruption are you plotting on these children?" Tonks demanded.

"The kind only the Weasley twins can plot, I'm sure." Hermione muttered, still bright red.

"Well, fine then, we'll just do this fair and square." Fred said with a shrug. "Tonks, truth or dare?"

"I'm not that stupid. Truth."

Fred grinned.

"Ever kissed another girl before, Tonks?"

"What?! What the hell kind of question is that?"

Ginny looked at her curiously.

"Have you?"

This time, Tonks flushed and mumbled something under her breath that only George caught, but that sent him into gales of laughter.

"She has!" he said between guffaws.

"Oh, please! It's not that funny! I was just extremely pissed off of Ogden's, and it was this really masculine looking . . . oh for Merlin's _sake_!" she yelled, since now all the Weasley's were laughing extremely hard, save Percy, who was just shaking his head and chuckling.

"Wow, Tonks, never knew you had it in you." Ginny said.

"Was it a good kiss?" George asked, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"I don't have to answer that!" she said before narrowing her eyes at him. "And while we're at it, truth or dare?"

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Truth."

Fred groaned dramatically.

"George, you coward! You can certainly be no brother of mine!"

"Ever had a wet dream about another bloke before?" she asked, her face lit with smug satisfaction.

"A what, sorry? I'm not familiar with all the technical jargon."

She raised her eyebrows at Harry, who unfortunately knew what she was talking about and now had the dubious task of explaining to the confused huddle of Weasley males before him. He glanced over at Ginny and Hermione, who were looking at him expectantly, but he lowered his voice so that they wouldn't hear.

"You _know_ . . . wet dreams?" At their blank stares he sighed. "Come on, you have to at least know what that means. Dreams about, er, well, depends really, but you wake up and . . ." he gestured helplessly with his hands and hoped that they'd caught on. It took them a few additional seconds, and then Fred started laughing and the group separated.

"Damn, Tonks! You're pervy."

"Well?" she said, not letting the question drop.

George sighed.

"As sad as I am to tell you, no Tonks, I have not."

She looked a bit disappointed, until the sneakoscope started spinning and whirring and making a lot of noise.

"Ha! You lied! Who was it! C'mon, tell us."

"Wait, what's a bloody wet dream?" Ginny demanded.

"Don't worry about it, Ginny." Percy told her.

"No, I want to know!" 

"Now who's corrupting the children?" George asked with a smirk.

"Don't try and change the subject, Weasley. Who was it?"

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair before shrugging.

"Fine. It was Oliver Wood, if you must know. Fifth year to be exact." He sighed again, more spectacularly this time. "I was a teenaged boy and my raging hormones all culminated in one wild dream about him. Happy now?"

She smirked.

"Yes. Your turn."

"Hermione, truth or dare?"

And in a moment of blind panic (after all, this truth business was getting a bit hairy) she eeped out, "Dare."

George's grin was pure evil (in Ron's opinion).

"I dare you . . ."

And realizing what she'd done, Hermione started frantically shaking her head.

"To . . ."

"No, wait, I take it . . ."

"Kiss Tonks."

"Back."

"Oh, they won't give up until they do it, so let's get it over with Hermione."

And then Tonks was leaning closer, and Fred and George looked like twin cats who'd each gotten a nice, fat canary, and she did the only thing she could think of. She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

Of course, everyone missed the entire kiss, since Harry and Ron leapt forward and covered the twins' eyes, while Percy shielded his own as well as Ginny's.

"What in the world is going _on_ here?" a hoarse, and somewhat shocked voice exclaimed.

"Hullo, Remus." Tonks said with a sheepish smile, while Hermione ducked her head.

"Methinks," Percy said as all eyes turned to the scene before them. "That things have gotten a bit out of hand."

And no one argued with him.

"Right, so, no more repeats of earlier?"

"No, Sir."

"We will all behave in a manner befitting rational human beings with no perverted schemes in the making?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Very good. And will you please stop with the 'sirs'? They make me feel old."

The eight of them all stared at Lupin who was staring sternly down at them, though his hazel eyes were twinkling in amusement. Hermione hadn't stopped blushing brightly since he'd walked into the room and caught her and Tonks kissing, and every few minutes she'd moan about how embarrassed she was. Which made the twins grumble about having missed the entire affair and glare at Harry and Ron who just glared defiantly back.

Lupin sighed. This was what boredom bred in hormonal teenagers. Though, Tonks really had no excuse. Percy seemed to be acting the most mature of the lot, but with no one to really step forward and keep things in line, he was just going have to stay and watch them all like a hawk.

"So, Remus, no chance of you leaving us alone again?"

He frowned at Tonks.

"Absolutely not." he said.

"Join the game then?"

His eyebrows flew up near his hairline.

"Abso_lute_ly not."

"Aw come on, Professor." Fred said. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah, Professor, it's all good clean fun now, we promise." George insisted.

Lupin narrowed his eyes at them but shrugged since everyone was looking at him, Tonks, Ginny and the twins with large, pleading eyes.

"Fine. And stop calling me 'professor'."

But he knew they would keep doing it because it annoyed him so much and the Weasley twins _lived_ to annoy people.

"Right, who's turn then? Oh yes, Hermione."

She flushed again and with a weary look at Lupin turned to Ginny.

"Truth or dare?"

Ginny pursed her lips and tapped her chin.

"Truth, I suppose." she said, throwing a playfully reproachful look at her former professor.

Hermione nodded and cast around her mind for questions to ask, finally settling on, "Did you kiss Neville at the Yule Ball?"

Everyone looked at her curiously and she rolled her eyes.

"No. He didn't want to kiss me." She frowned fiercely. "Said he had a girlfriend back home who was _home_ schooled and didn't want to cheat on her. Bloody slag. Bet she cheats on him all the time."

"Why Ginny, do you _fancy_ Mr. Longbottom?" Lupin asked before he could stop himself.

Tonks snickered.

"No." Ginny said, though no one believed her. "And truth or dare, _Professor_ Lupin?"

He frowned.

"Truth and nothing too embarrassing please."

"Have you ever _shagged_ anyone Professor Lupin?" she asked, almost innocently.

He sighed.

"I daresay it's a breach of some sort of law to tell you this but yes, I have."

Tonks snickered again and shot him a significant look before sobering at the silencing one he returned it with. Pouting slightly she sat back and he turned to her.

"Truth or dare?"

"Oh, truth." she said. "Since everyone's being so _boring_."

He frowned.

"When Sirius and I babysat you and you said it was an accident that the laundry room was filled to the ceiling with purple and pink bubbles shaped like ponies, it wasn't, was it?"

She coughed slightly.

"Not really, no."

He glared at her.

"You said it was a sign of magic." he said accusingly.

"Um, well, it could have been."

He shook his head and the game continued on. By the fourth or fifth round, Percy had taken a dare to try out one of the newest Wheezes and his head had transformed into a large grape cluster, Hermione had spent five minutes in a haunted bathroom and Harry had admitted to kissing Cho, among other various random acts they performed and tidbits they admitted. It was getting late when the game made its way back around to Harry.

"Truth or dare?" Hermione asked.

"Truth." he said amidst groans of, 'Be a man!' and 'Come _on_ Harry.

Even Hermione looked at him earnestly and said, "Pick dare, Harry, I've got a good one."

With a weary sigh he amended his choice and Hermione smiled broadly.

"I dare you to write an anonymous love letter to Draco Malfoy."

Harry blinked while Ginny and Ron hooted appreciatively. Fred and George rushed at him with parchment and quills and smiled.

"Have at it then, mate." Fred said.

Harry took the quill in slackened fingers and stared at Hermione.

"What'll I write?"

Ron took to the question first.

"How about, 'Dearest Draco'?"

Harry shot him a look but wrote it down.

"'You are the . . . um . . .' what? The sun in my sky? The leafs on my tree? What?"

"Well," George said. "'The leaves on my tree' is poetic, but leafs die so maybe it's not conveying the right _message_."

"I don't want to convey a _message_ other than 'I'm madly in love with you', right? So does it matter?"

George looked affronted.

"Don't get shirty with _me_," he said. "Just because you've been outed . . ."

"Outed?"

"And now we all know that you secretly harbor dark and disturbing feelings for Draco Malfoy."

"I do _not_!"

Hermione laughed and then swallowed it to regard him seriously.

"Well, Harry, you are taking this rather . . ."

Harry narrowed his eyes at her.

"What, Hermione? Go on."

She burst out laughing again and he sighed.

"Fine! Fine! 'Dearest Draco' then, and how about, 'you are the reason I breathe?' eh? Is this good enough for you?"

He scrawled furiously with everyone but Lupin laughing so hard they were crying, while their former professor just looked at him a bit amused and shook his head.

"Here!" he finally cried, handing it to Hermione.

It was barely legible but she held it up and read it anyway.

"'Dearest Draco, you are the reason I breathe. Every day I'm apart from you is like,' good God Harry, this is gorgeous."

"Yeah well, just mail it off already."

Hermione smiled as Ginny took it and sniffled slightly.

"Oh to have a boyfriend that articulate." Hermione was saying. "I'd . . . I don't know what I'd do if I got a letter like that."

"Faint or start up a correspondence, probably." Ron muttered, which gave Harry a great idea.

Fred and George read the letter, gagging and laughing the whole way through, passing it on to Tonks and then to Lupin, leering at Harry madly.

"Finally out of the broom closet, then, Harry?" Fred said, reaching to clap him on the shoulder.

"Really, it's not so bad. Plenty of fit blokes out there willing to snog you senseless I'd imagine." George told him.

"Why, if I shopped in that particular apothecary, I'd snog you senseless Harry." Fred said.

Silence reigned until he looked at George with a frown.

"Overshare?"

"Just a bit."

"Well, Hermione," Lupin said after everyone had a bit of a laugh. "I believe this is yours to send off."

He handed the letter to her and she nodded.

"Okay. Your turn Harry."

He looked balefully at her and then looked to Ron.

"Truth or dare?" he asked.

Ron looked weary (and rightfully so) but managed to eep out, 'truth'.

"You've had a crush on Hermione since fourth year."

Ginny positively wailed with laughter and Fred and George slapped him on the back while Ron looked positively ill.

"Um . . . er . . . true." he said after a moment.

"You owe me ten galleons," Lupin told Tonks.

She frowned but nodded.

"Honestly, I thought he'd only realized it last year, crazy git." she was muttering.

Hermione and Ron looked stricken, although the frenzied cat-calling from the twins probably lightened the mood slightly. Ginny looked smug and Harry wondered, vaguely, if this had been her plan the entire time. Eventually the ruckus died down and they all realized how late it was.

"Time for bed, kiddies." Lupin said with a wink, standing and stretching languorously.

They all stood, except for Hermione and Ron who were apparently going to sort out their feelings.

_Finally_, Harry thought.

"Oh, one last thing." Ginny said before everyone could file out of the room.

Tonks cursed under her breath and they all looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, Tonks. I believe we made a deal."

She grumbled something that may have been an affirmative.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

Ginny smirked.

"We had a bet going. I said Ron would confess to Hermione tonight without either of our help and she said he wouldn't and there you have it!"

Lupin smiled, but wiped it away when Tonks threw him a threatening look.

"And what, exactly, are the particulars of this bet?"

With a sigh Tonks walked up to Percy, who had been fairly silent for the latter portion of the night, twined her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Finally something to shock the masses and everyone stared in silence. It was turning into quite a nice kiss, really, when the twins cleared their throats and there was a mass Exodus of the room with Fred and George asking questions and offering opinions on wedding dates in whispers as they entered the hall.

Harry followed, laughing and shaking his head at their antics. It wouldn't be until they were all lying in bed and he was waiting up for Ron to rush into the room prepared to beat him up or thank him profusely, that he realized he'd actually had fun for the first time in a long time.

"You know, I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time."

Harry looked up at Lupin with a quirked eyebrow.

"Like you were really happy."he elaborated. "It was nice to see it again."

The dark-haired teen laughed.

"Yeah, well, it was nice to see you laughing again, too." he said.

They were in the drawing room, Harry flipping through a Quidditch magazine, Lupin examining some manuscript or another. The rest of the house's inhabitants were out and about, Hermione and Ron spending time as a 'couple', Tonks teasing Percy mercilessly into doing anything she wanted, Ginny writing a letter to Dean and the twins back hard at work making exactly what others who needed a good laugh needed.

"That letter you wrote to Draco Malfoy," Lupin said with a small smile, chuckling at the groan Harry emitted. "You have the same flair for words James did."

Harry sat up straight.

"Really?"

Lupin nodded.

"Really. I seem to remember a certain love letter written to Lily that was almost exactly like yours to Mister Malfoy. Granted, she made a great show of rejecting him and said she'd burn it at the next opportunity, but she never did. Sirius got a hold of it and read it aloud at their wedding."

Harry laughed again, thinking of his godfather and then wincing at sharp pang in the region of his stomach.

"I miss him." he said, finally.

Lupin walked over to the small sofa in the room and sat beside him.

"Me too."

Harry looked up at him with a pained look.

"Does it ever get better?"

"No." he answered honestly. "But, we humans are _very_ adaptable creatures, you know. We adapt to the pain and push past it and learn to survive in spite of everything."

"'The ones who love us never really leave us.'" Harry said softly.

Lupin sucked in a sharp breath at the words.

"He told me that once."

"He told me that all the time."

They shared a look and a smile and, not for the first time that summer, their grief.


End file.
